"VAN" (Sports Desk - 10.11.2024) :: Damian Muscat had a very good evening at Dragway at the Bend’s Drag Bike Nationals on Saturday, not only laying down the quickest Top Fuel Motorcycle pass in the country, but also taking out A-Final victory over runner-up Rob Cassar for what was the first round of the 2024/2025 NDRC Top Fuel Motorcycle Championship.
Muscat is only the second Top Fuel Motorcycle racer in Australia to run ‘a five’, smashing Chris Matheson’s breakthrough 5.92 effort at Sydney Dragway in May of last year to lay down a 5.800 second pass at 394.96kph in the A-Final last night.
According to the Queensland racer, who was the runner-up in last year’s NDRC Top Fuel Motorcycle title chase, the time also sees him as the eighth quickest in the world.
“It is odd – sometimes the best passes don’t feel that way, as everything just happens so smoothly and that is what makes a good run! My competitor (Rob Cassar) in the other lane actually saw the time board and was able to tell me when he pulled up beside me in the deep end, and once my crew came down beeping the horn, it was so surreal,” Muscat said.
"As we did some fast runs earlier in the day too it was enough to back it up and reset the Australian record, and it also puts us as equal eighth in the world!
“And we won the event as well! So definitely a very good day!”
While all ended in the best possible way for Muscat and his crew on Saturday evening, it was a bumpy start.
In the first qualifier, rider error saw the bike shut down and no run recorded, while in the second qualifier, a systems issue was encountered, although Muscat was still able to deliver a top qualifying 6.418 second pass at 314.86kph.
Come the three rounds of racing, a 6.055/379.24kph round one pass on a solo set the scene, before a round two solo ended in the sand trap with the bike on its side – albeit after running a 6.121/289.99kph effort, before round three saw the dreams of this passionate team from the Sunshine State come true.
“It was a bit of a shakey start – the first qualifier I turned the bike off instead of putting it into low gear, and I was so sorry for our team for making that mistake,” Muscat said.
“In the second qualifier we ran 6.40 but the bike didn’t change gears, so we didn’t have second stage of clutch or fuel and still ran the 6.40, so that was good.
“In the first round of racing we ran a pretty good number and then my chute failed to deploy and we went into the sand for a good 50 feet where I kept it on the wheel mostly until the very end where we just rolled onto the right side of the bike.
“That left the crew with a very big clean up job and I have to say a big thanks to Terry Jackson for helping us out with repairing the body work.
“The crew dug deep and we got back out there for the next run, a bye run, and I was a little tender after my little get off so we did a three-quarter pass and it was very fast even at that.
"For the final, I figured I would see how I felt when I got to the line and I was feeling good, so we rode it out the back door and got the result and as we all saw, the team were ecstatic.”
With this sought-after goal now accomplished, Muscat has a simple answer for the question – what’s next?
“The next goal is always to go faster,” he grinned!
Unsurprisingly, Muscat wants to make sure he gives the appropriate thanks to his supporters following this achievement.
"I want to say a really big thank you to my crew, and there is a lot of people in the background too that have helped along the way – including Morice from Rocket Industries/Aeroflow who has a watchful eye over our whole deal here – who knows, we might turn him into a drag bike racer!” he laughed.
“Also thank you to all of our sponsors for their support and for believing in us, we are just really so happy to have accomplished this goal for them,” Muscat added, referring to team supporters JTS Transport, Transit Tyres, Degoey Contractors, C & C Civil and Mining Construction, BL & SG Lake Brick Cartage, Summut Harvesters, FUCHS Lubricants, Great Northern Motorcycle Adventures, Easynet, Whem Equipment Hire, Applied Automotive Engineering, Rocket Industries and Aeroflow.
Taking out the B-Final victory was Corey Buttigieg, over Danny Rickard. Kim Leonard also took part in the event, but was unable to continue past the first round of racing.
Round two of the NDRC Top Fuel Motorcycle Championship as part of the NDRC will come as part of the Perth Motorplex’s 50th annual Goldenstates on November 22-23, where Top Doorslammer racers and Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship racers will also be in action.
Between now and then, NDRC racers will hit Sydney Dragway next weekend (November 15-16, Pro Racing Championship).
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